1. Technical Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an oiling device in a vertically-operating bread-slicing machine, having a plurality of adjacent cutting belts that circulate endlessly, and crossed, with spacing by predetermined bread thicknesses, around two cutting-belt rollers, and having a horizontal oiling roller that employs an oil-soaked felt jacket to oil the blade surfaces of the cutting belts on both sides of the cutting belts.
2. Prior Art
Generally, known oiling systems for bread-slicing machines employ spray oiling or contact oiling. In spray oiling, the oiling fluid is sprayed onto the cutting belts by means of feed nozzles disposed in the housing of the bread-slicing machine. In this method, the oiling fluid is sprayed in excess to assure a virtually complete wetting of the blade surfaces. The excessive quantity of oiling fluid drips from the top surfaces of the cutting belts, but a portion of the oiling fluid is carried along by the rapidly-circulating cutting belts, so the inside walls of the housing are disadvantageously dirtied by airborne fluid. A further disadvantage of spray oiling is that it requires a large quantity of oiling fluid, and the excessive applied oiling fluid must be disposed of. The method is thus distinguished by a poor cost-effectiveness ratio.
Contact oiling of the cutting belts with the aid of oiling rollers disposed on both sides of the cutting belts is improved over spray oiling with respect to the required quantity of oiling fluid and the attained result. In contact oiling with the aid of oiling rollers, the oiling fluid is introduced into the interior of the oiling roller via oil lines connected to the oiling roller and, due to the centrifugal force in the oiling rollers, which rotate when they come into contact with the cutting belts, the fluid is supplied to the outer felt jacket through holes distributed on the surface. The holes all have the same diameter, and are uniformly spaced from one another. Unfortunately, this leads to excessive soaking of the felt jacket. The oiling rollers are stationary, so the same locations of the felt jacket are always stressed during the oiling process. After a time, the felt jacket no longer possesses its originally-smooth surface; the cutting belts cut tracks into the surface. Therefore, the felt jackets have a short service life and must be replaced at regular, short intervals. Furthermore, the tracks lead to uneven oiling because, during the oiling process, the felt jackets of the two oiling rollers run onto one another at the sections adjacent to the tracks and, due to the pressing pressure of the oiling rollers against one another, the oiling fluid is pressed out and expelled. The circulating cutting belts convey the excess, expelled oiling fluid, thereby dirtying the interior of the bread-slicing machine. This also significantly increases oiling fluid consumption.